This Nov. 3, 2012 photo shows wind turbines at the National Wind Technology Center, run by the U.S. Department of Energy, outside Boulder, Colo. The wind energy boom touted by President Barack Obama as a key to America's energy strategy has hit a wall in an election-year political dipute with Republican lawmakers over taxpayer support for renewable energy. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Gov. Rick Snyder has enlisted the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to lead a series of public forums to gather information that will help prepare a statewide energy plan focused on reliability, affordability and the environment.

The Grand Rapids forum is Monday, February 25 with another in Kalamazoo March 18.

Michigan is ahead of pace to meet its 10 percent renewable energy goal by 2015 – but we must act decisively to sustain our green economy jobs and businesses, protect public health, and to improve the quality of life of our citizens.

Michigan cannot risk falling behind in a clean energy race to the 30 other states that have stronger renewable energy or energy efficiency goals. The forums offer a unique opportunity to inform the statewide energy policy making process.

At the two local forums, West Michigan Environmental Action Council and a consortium of businesses, utilities, academics, health professionals, community groups, and individual citizens will be touting energy efficiency as Michigan’s cleanest, cheapest and most quickly deployed source of new energy.

But more than that, WMEAC will ask Michigan to reconceive of buildings and energy infrastructure as new sources of energy to be tapped and mined, similar to oil and gas wells and coal mines.

First, it’s important to understand that energy efficiency is distinct from energy conservation. Energy efficiency is about accomplishing the same, or more, with less energy. It’s not about sacrifice.

Snyder got it right when he described energy efficiency as “the best example of a no-regrets policy Michigan can have. It makes us more reliable, more affordable and protects our environment.” If anything, that understates the opportunity.

According to the Michigan Public Service Commission the cost of energy efficiency is $20 per MWh, and the combined costs of renewable energy and energy efficiency is $45.98 per MWh, “lower than the cost of all new fossil fuel generation plants regardless of technology type.” By comparison renewable energy came in at $82.5/MWh, and new coal at $107/MWh.

Nick Occhipinti, political director of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council, speaks about electric vehicles in a 2012 press conference outside Calder Plaza. The conference focused on analysis on the Obama Administrationâs new fuel economy standards. Emily Zoladz | Mlive.com

In 2009 McKinsey and Company, a leading global consulting firm, found that the U.S. economy has the potential to reduce annual non-transportation energy consumption 23 percent by 2020, saving $1.2 trillion at the cost of $520 billion (not including program costs). “Doing so would decrease greenhouse-gas emissions by 1.1 gigatons annually—the equivalent of taking the entire US fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks off the roads.”

Energy efficiency programs are already active in West Michigan. WMEAC is working with the BetterBuildings for Michigan program – a collaboration of multiple levels of government and the private sector that will have audited and retrofitted nearly 2,000 homes before the program concludes this summer.

BetterBuildings is just one energy efficiency program in West Michigan.

Thousands of homes have been weatherized by our social service providers including the Salvation Army, ACSET Community Action Agency, Home Repair Services and others. More, improvements targeted at lower-income households have the added advantage of saving taxpayer and ratepayer dollars by decreasing low-income heating assistance payments.

Energy efficiency frees up cash in tight monthly budgets and makes for more stable families and communities by returning dollars spent on energy to our wallets and the local economy. It increases housing values and decreases the cost of renting or owning a home.

But these efforts represent just the tip of the iceberg. For example, Holland has assembled a number of energy task forces to pilot and innovate community-wide energy efficiency improvements as called for in its world-class Community Energy Plan.

Local energy auditors and home energy retrofitters are experimenting to find customers, decrease paperwork, and lower costs. Perhaps most interesting, models are emerging that finance energy retrofits directly on utility bills – paid from the savings of the newly installed efficiency improvements.

WMEAC supports the update and extension of Michigan’s 10 percent by 2015 clean energy standard. Increasing our use of renewable energy will give us cleaner and healthier air and water, protect our Great Lakes, improve public health and create new green jobs in Michigan.

But, at what cost come these priceless benefits? Given that the MPSC has already determined that new renewable energy is cheaper than new coal generation, and that renewable energy prices continue to fall in Michigan, the economic case is becoming clear.

Moreover, Michigan still does not account for the so called “indirect costs” of dirty energy. Fifty-five percent of our energy supply comes from coal and the public pays the costs of pollutants such as mercury, sulfur dioxide and arsenic. These pollutants are linked to increased rates of heart disease, childhood asthma, lung disease and premature death.

A study prepared for the Michigan Environmental Council by Environmental Health & Engineering, Inc. found that health-related damages associated with emissions from the dirtiest nine coal-fired plants in Michigan to be $1.5 billion annually.

The report blames this pollution for dozens of premature deaths, and 72,000 instances in which children were restricted from activity due to asthma and other pollution-related effects.

In short, Michigan imports coal and pollution and we export cash, health and economic opportunity. We can do better. Now is the time to build the framework for a clean, affordable energy future.